"Sometimes God requires us to sacrifice."

Opening an area/getting double transferred into an area while training has not been my favorite mission experience, by any means. It's really hard when you spend so much time finding everyday, and 90% of the work rests on your shoulders. It's especially hard coming from an area where we had scheduled lessons with investigators and recent converts all the time, and my companion was a much better missionary than I was.

Although it's been difficult, Heavenly Father still shows his love for us every day.

On Monday we found this wonderful lady named A, who is from the Dominican Republic. She is really sweet, although she is just getting into the Bible, and was slightly overwhelmed by the message of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. But she is letting us come back this week to tell her more about Christ's Atonement :)

Tuesday we might a guy named J, who was willing to talk, but didn't really hear the things we said. He said his girlfriend might be interested in listening, and she'd be there on Saturday. Later that day, we sorta talked to a guy named L. L's deaf, so we wrote to him. We wrote to him about the Book of Mormon. He seemed to be excited. We asked if there would be a way to reach him, and he invited us in to show us how his phone works--which is more like Skype. To demonstrate he called his preacher...who did not look happy to see us, but it was pretty funny. When we went back on Saturday, L was happy to see us, but his wife was not. It's hard 'cause they're both deaf, but only L can talk. She was mad 'cause he was talking to us and she didn't know what we were all talking about :P I hate tricky situations like that. And there aren't any members in the area that know sign language.

On Wednesday we met a strange but awesome man named T. He runs a garden community share thingy in a little town just north of here. He told us when we met him that he didn't do things that were normal, but he does things that are right. An example is letting his ex-wife live in a house he owns with the man she cheated on him with. Not a normal thing to do, but that kind of forgiveness is incredible. We got home a little late that night to find a pumpkin, watermelon, and two zucchinis just outside our door, that were from him. 

On Thursday, we met with a less active member of the branch. She served a mission several years ago, but her life's gotten kinda crazy. We had a great meeting in which she tearfully said that she was sure that God had sent Sisters here just for her.

Also on Thursday, we called S. She is half-way through 2 Nephi, and she has been comparing the Isaiah chapters to the ones in the Bible (so she's realllly reading :D) She told me she didn't think she ever be able to leave her family or friends in her church, but then she kept hearing my voice in her head telling her: "Sometimes God requires us to sacrifice." People don't have those types of concerns unless they know the message is true, right? She said we could come by and pick up the Restoration DVD on Friday, and we talked more then. We expressed how our favorite parts of the Book of Mormon are in Mosiah and Alma. She is excited to keep reading :) 

Also on Friday, we met with a part-member family. They have a really cool dog that's half wolf, have German Shepherd. 

Saturday we came back to meet J's girlfriend. She was outside when we came up. She told us that she wasn't really interested, because she found her faith and that when people get to be in their 50s they've pretty much decided what's right for them. We got to know her a little bit and then told her about the Book of Mormon. She had seen the picture of Christ in the America's before, but didn't realize that the Book of Mormon is a record of the people there. She got really interested because it lined up with some stuff she'd learned about Israelite artifacts in South America. She requested that we come back next Saturday, if not sooner.

We've talked to a lot of people the past couple weeks, and although many of them are not ready, it's been cool to see some of them be closed off, and then really warm up as we just get to know them a little bit. For example, there was an atheist woman named M, who knew God wasn't real because of things people had been able to do to her. She was very closed off and mildly angry. As we talked about families she softened, and still did not want to talk about God, but was very uplifted by our conversation.

This next week, we're looking forward to zone conference tomorrow, and exchanges on Thursday. 

Much love,

Sister Bowen

A Family with 38 Kids!

We had quite the week of adventures this past week.

On Monday we got to teach S the Restoration. Near the end, she took a deep breath. We asked her what she was thinking. She brought up that she's been a part of the same church and community, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to leave. Since then she's read through 1 Nephi :) although she's been too busy to meet.

Tuesday, we met an awesome woman named T. We told her about the Restoration, and she was very interested. She's uber busy, but she said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

Wednesday we met a guy named G who was working on his car. It's always a little nerve wracking to approach guys working on cars, 'cause they're not always in a good mood. But he seemed like he'd been deep in thought, and we shared a message with him that he really seemed to appreciate. Unfortunately his wife is not interested in meeting, but it was a good experience.

Friday, we had zone training, which was good. And we also taught a lady named C that we found last week. She used to clean a lady's house that was LDS years ago. She seems eager to change her life around and provide a better life for her kids. She is praying about a date to get baptized.

Right after that we ran into a lady named C. We taught her a little about the Restoration, and she was asking a lot of questions about how a church service went. She's been looking for a church, and really liked what she heard about ours, so she said she was excited to come on Sunday. She didn't come, but we'll go see her sometime soon to see where she's at with things.

Saturday, we met a family in the church that's purdy awesome. The woman of the home said to us, "We are the only family in the ward that has 38 kids." Crazy, huh?! Most of the kids are actually adults, and most of them are special needs. Two of them were shaken babies, and there's a handful in wheelchairs. And then there are some that have been through so many foster-parents that they don't really build emotional relationships with people any more. I expected their house to be like a zoo, but it was very clean and organized. We shared a message with about 12 of them, and they were all very well behaved. How cool is that?

Also on Saturday, I saw the biggest sunflower I've ever seen. Its stem was as big as my arm.

Yesterday, church was purdy cool. We got commissioned to teach the 5 year olds. They were very cute (thank goodness--it's an important survival mechanism). We were teaching them about how Jesus wants us to obey laws 'n stuff. Whenever we asked one of the boys a question, his answer was always about Jesus. Which was great, especially since the questions weren't directly geared that way.

That evening, we went for a faith walk (that's where you don't have any appointments and wander around with a goal to find two people to teach in the last hour of the week ;) We met a lady named K, who had meet with missionaries several years ago. We cleared up some things she hadn't understood from before, and she seems excited to start meeting again. Then we met a kid named C who is very religious (and belongs to a church whose pastor we've been warned likes to harass the missionaries) He shared how sad he was about his dad who is a heroin addict (who'd almost killed him in a car accident a few months ago). He mentioned how he didn't know if his dad was saved or not. He said he was, but he didn't act like it. He mentioned how a pastor had told him that once somebody was saved, they could do anything and still go to heaven. He didn't feel like that was what God intended for us. We shared a verse about enduring to the end. I think he appreciated the thought.

It's been hard to get out and talk to people everyday. Especially 'cause the town is purdy small, so we wander the same streets everyday. But we always feel purdy successful by the end of the day. In fact, I was telling Sister Mercer about how I was sad to leave South Bend, 'cause up there I felt like we were God's favorite missionaries, but we feel like we might be His favorites again now ;) My thoughts were summed up by a simple clause in the Restoration pamphlet: "Our Heavenly Father blesses us as we strive to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ." It's so  true. We don't have to be absolutely perfect. We just have to try our best. 

I hope everybody has a miraculous week. 

Much love,

Sister Bowen

Sister McKendrick, me, K, and R 

Sister McKendrick, A, me 

 Me, Sister McKendrick, K

A scene from our new apartment when we walked in :)

 Our district from last transfer Elder Havertz, Elder Lindhardt, Sister McKendrick, me, Elder Bromley, Elder Johnson, Elder Bair, and Elder Bramlett

Me and J

A Huge Scythe in the Closet!

Well team,

Here I am in Lebanon, Indiana with the brand new (and wonderful) Sister Mercer. It is a branch kinda between Indy and Lafayette, in the Lafayette stake. Everybody here rides golf-carts through the streets. Weird.

We got dropped off (we're sharing a car with the Lafayette sisters that live 40 minutes away :P) at our apartment which had previously been occupied (but not for the past few months) by elders. Filthy elders. I've got a few pictures, but I didn't bring my camera cord today. Aaand they left this huge scythe in the closet. When we flushed the toilet water gushed out of the bottom of the septic tank O_o. 

We had some options for the rest of the day. We went shopping briefly (the elders showed us where a store within walking distance was) and we could either clean the apartment, or go out and get to work. We decided to get to work and began to wander the neighborhood, where we found a wonderful lady named S that we are now teaching.

Lebanon is a strange place. It's very common for people to speed past you on the street in golf carts. We are the first sisters to ever serve in Lebanon, so the branch members are excited about that.

We spent a lot of time wandering the neighborhood and talked to a bazillion people and found a handful of new investigators. Your world is very small when you don't have a car or any knowledge of what's around O_o Sister Mercer is definitely going to be the best finder out of the new group of missionaries. She is from Bountiful, Utah, is the oldest of 6 kids (her brother leaves on a mission this week), and attended UofU for two years studying Biology.

We are in a district with two sets of elders. The companionship serving in Crawfordsville would fit in with the cast of The Big Bang Theory. SO FUNNY. I feel like we are in the middle of nowhere, even though I'm closer to Indy than I've ever served.

So. We will need lots of prayers to be able to get things started here (and to just survive O_o)

Much love,

Sister Bowen

Change is Hard, Even for Missionaries

In case anybody was wondering I had a purdy fantastic birthday. It just so happened that our zone's preparation day got moved from Monday to Tuesday 'cause we had interviews on Monday. Not many people have both their birthdays and preparation day on the same day while on their mission.

Sister McKendrick made pancakes and eggs for me for breakfast. When we went to the church building to play sports 'n stuff, the zone leaders marched into the gym with a cake singing happy birthday to me. The jerks used the trick candles that are like impossible to blow out. It wasn't 'til afterwards that we remembered you aren't supposed to have open flames in the church building O_o There's a great video of the whole thing, but the file is too big to email, unfortunately.

Later we had dinner at a member's home, and Sister McKendrick told them it was my birthday, so the put candles in the brownies and sang to me. At bed time, I went to get in bed and found a couple candy bars Sister McKendrick had left there for me. I don't think any one has ever made me feel so loved on my birthday before (she coordinated the cake thing earlier in the day--'cause elders aren't that thoughtful on their own.) What a great day.

On Monday in my interview, President Cleveland told me that I'd be released as a Sister Training Leader and train a new missionary this next transfer. I was really sad and a little angry. I didn't expect that to happen 'til next transfer, especially since Sister McKendrick got to South Bend before I did. That's been something I've actually been really depressed about all week, so that's made things really hard. You'd think I'd have mastered faith and humility by now :P Not to mention sleep had been somewhat elusive for the first part of the week, which greatly impaired my ability to do things :P

But we still got a lot done.

J is still doing really well. He hasn't smoked for two weeks, and he's been coming to church every week.

R was finally able to make it to church again, so that was purdy exciting.

There are sometimes when our plans fall through, and we are just too tired to do much else, so in our efforts to be obedient we walk around our complex. On our latest "faith walk" we found a man named J, who went to school to be a Baptist minister, but that hasn't panned out, so he now stocks shelves at Meijer's, or somethin' like that. We met with him a few times, and he seems very genuine and open, which is always exciting. But I'll probably never see him again :P

Anyway, I'm reasonably convinced there are many adventures to come in the next few weeks, and I'm trying hard to be excited for them. I'll letcha know where I end up next week!

Much love!

Sister Bowen

Creepy Children!

Yet another week of miracles :) 

K told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and is so excited to get baptized.

R accepted a baptismal date. We were considering what date to offer him to prepare for, and we were distinctly impressed to offer one which turns out to be the anniversary of a significant life event for him.

A got confirmed. She was just so happy :)

We have lessons at a table right outside our apartment almost everyday, and this herd of adorable young black children run over to sit with us. We had one impromptu lesson where we had J (who the lesson was originally for), M (a lady we had been teaching, but had disappeared for two months), her kitten, Sister G (a member who lives in our complex), and then our new friends, Anthony, Colaiby, Keena, Lyndell, and Amani (not sure if I spelled any of those right). At the end we taught them "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" So funny! And now every night they try to climb in our apartment window while we are planning. That'll have to stop O_o Creepy children...

This next week is looking pretty uneventful. We were anticipating a trip  to Indy to help with transfer planning, but that's not going to happen 'cause President is too busy with interviews and a conference 'n stuff to set aside time. So we're gonna do it over the phone.

But that's all good. Hopefully we can do some good work up here for the last week of the transfer :)

"Like Angels that Just Appeared From Heaven."

Well team, more adventures to share!

Monday we taught 4 lessons. Not bad for our day off! But we knew we had to get a lot done, 'cause we had a lot of things going on to take us away from our work.

One of the lessons was with a wonderful lady named K. She is the mother of a lady in the Mishawaka ward who got baptized a few years ago with her son. She had been with them for a lot of the lessons, but came out with a few questions unresolved. She seems determined to learn if the message is true. One of her difficulties is that it was hammered into her head that you shouldn't get spiritual truths from anything other than the Bible. 

That's something a lot of people deal with, but it got me thinking. To take only truths from the Bible is to deny God's consistency. Throughout history God has taken an active role in directing His children. Why would that change? 

We got in later that night than we had intended, 'cause another investigator really wanted to meet (how cool is that?) So we broke curfew 'cause we had to drive to Middlebury to start an exchange. What an adventure.

Sister McKendrick and I both worked in the area to help them find some people to teach, 'cause they've had a hard time getting things started over there. We had some success, but had to cut things short, 'cause President Cleveland let us know that morning that he wanted us to drive down that evening for the meeting the next day.

So on Wednesday we had an epic meeting with people from the missionary department. Apparently one of the men had worked for the CIA for a long time, which automatically makes him cool and smart. They did not talk about ipads, (which all the other missionaries thought they would), but they did talk a lot about how we can be more effective. It was super good, and I learned stuff I really wish I had understood earlier in my mission.

Thursday we had to spend a lot of time preparing for zone training the next day, as well on just catching up with paper work. Not to mention our normal planning session. We managed to teach a couple lessons, and then found out, as we were inviting people to A's baptism, that there was supposed to be a youth dance in at the same time as her baptism. Sometimes our ward council struggles with getting things scheduled appropriately O_o. So we made a bazillion phone calls and rescheduled it for Sunday afternoon.

On Friday, we had an awesome zone training, and followed that with a jam session with A and the elders. So funny! We had three guitars, two keyboards, a couple microphones and a tambourine.

Saturday, we were supposed to have a lesson with a guy from Bosnia, but it fell through, so we scheduled another one with a guy who lives in our complex. And that fell through--which we found out while sitting at a table outside with a member waiting for him :P So we saw another neighbor of ours outside and called her over. She sat down with us, and we talked to her a little about the Plan of Salvation. Needless to say she is excited to meet with us again. 

Sunday was the big day! A got baptized! She was so excited! And so many awkward things happened...some that I should not talk about in this letter. But everything went well, and she is just so happy. When we talked to her on the phone on Friday, she said "I'm just so happy, I don't know what to do!" When she shared her testimony, she talked about how she'd been praying for two years to find the right church. She had been praying one evening, she looked up, and there we were, "like angels that just appeared from Heaven."

That's been a theme to our work lately. We met K the week before last, and when we saw her this past week she expressed that she had been praying, and knew that we were a direct answer to her pleadings. We've had other such experiences recently as well. What a cool thing it is to be God's tool to answer prayers :)

In comparison to the past weeks, this week is fairly uneventful. We've got exchanges with Warsaw on Wednesday, and that's about it. We're just gearing up to do great things here in South Bend though :)

Peectures!

A! With me, Brother B  and Sister McKendrick

Me and Sister Clark. She's got like 2 weeks left on her mission, and I didn't think I'd see her again! But she got to go to the meeting on Wednesday. She's my missionary role-model, and I'll miss her :) But I'll probably see her back at school.

With the Elkhart Sisters! (In Middlebury) Sisters Herzog and Ruoho.

Our zone! Back: Elders Bramlett, Lindhardt, Bair, Johnson, Bromley, Peterson, Easter, Adams

Middle: Sisters McKendrick, Christiansen, Odermott, Evans, Ruth, and me

Front: Elders Thompson, Russell, Young, Ledesma, Haverts, Hardester, and Esplin. We have a good time :)

Tornado!

Greetings to the three people that read this blog!

It's been yet another week of adventures, but not quite as many from the standpoint of missionary work.

Monday night we had tornadoes! It was purdy exciting. Our power went out at about 1:00 in the morning. There was a lot of rain, thunder and lightning. Tuesday morning we weren't sure what had actually happened. We were purdy excited when we found this pile of branches that sorta fell on this truck in our complex.

That evening we saw this, and suddenly the branches didn't seem so significant

​

​Luckily, our power came back on at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Even the Warsaw and Plymouth sisters had lost power. The Mishawaka sisters lost power and water, so they came over to our place to shower. The zone leaders were without power for about two days. So fun!

The next day we had exchanges with the Mishawaka sisters, which was a good time. One of them is brand new missionary, and she is really great, and the other sister is a wonderful trainer for her. They are doing purdy miraculous things in their area.

Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council, so we left at like 6:45 AM to be in Fishers by 10:00 AM. There's nothin' like a spending 6 hours in a van for a 6 hour meeting. But, as always, it was tremendously enlightening and inspirational. We talked about key indicators, persuasion, and conversion, and ate Chinese food. Not to mention seeing all our missionary buddies :)

​Elders Rider, Lowry, Bair, and Johnson, and Sister McKendrick and me--the survivors of the epic journey.

Friday, we were supposed to plan in the morning, and then have preparation day for the rest of the day (and be out 'til 10:30!) So we planned, and then A invited us over for pizza 'cause she wanted us to come over. She loves us a lot. "Y'all are like my daughters. You can call me mom if you want to" She is super funny too :)

​Me and "Sister A" 

Then we went and wandered around Notre Dame campus for a little bit. This is me and Sister McKendrick in front of a building that may or may not be significant.

​We had been instructed to spend as much of the day as possible with members engaging in their 4th of July festivities, so all the missionaries had been invited to a Luau that was being hosted by a family in our ward, so that was our plan for the rest of the time. They had some cool Polynesian dancing going on, so we enjoyed that, but when that was over things started to get sketchy. So the sisters decided to leave. Apparently members up here don't like us that much 'cause it was the only 4th of July plans that any of us (out of 7 sets of missionaries) had been invited to. So we went to the church building and played ultimate frisbee, chair soccer, and the cup game. It was a blast.

Finally on Saturday we got some work done. A passed her baptismal interview!! We met with J, who is finally getting into the Book of Mormon, consequently his addictions have been significantly easier to hold off on. Purdy amazing :) That evening we met a woman whose daughter and grandson had joined the church a couple years ago. She had sat in in a lot of their lessons, but hadn't converted. We talked to her about her concerns, and we'll be seeing her again tonight :)

We were hoping that this next week might be more productive, but we found out yesterday we have a surprise Mission Leadership Council this Wednesday. We are also are going to Elkhart to help the sisters get some things going in their area all day tomorrow. We're planning on Thursday, Friday  zone training, and A's baptism is on Saturday. We'll see if we ever have time to get things done ;)